Monday, March 12, 2012

The Stomach of Austerity

Southern New Jersey towns with the highest unemployment
and poverty in the state will also be among the hardest hit by
school-funding reforms proposed by the state Department of Education and
Gov. Chris Christie.

The four southernmost counties, Cape May, Atlantic, Salem
and Cumberland rank at the bottom of the state in child welfare
measures, according to the 2011 Kids Count report by Advocates for
Children of New Jersey. Those four counties also have the highest
unemployment rates in the state, with Cape May at 14 percent in December
and Atlantic County at 12.4 percent compared with 9 percent statewide,
according to Department of Labor statistics.

Yet while Christie’s proposed budget would increase state aid to
schools almost 2 percent statewide, overall, school districts in Cape
May and Cumberland counties will get slightly less aid, at least partly
due to enrollment shifts.

Atlantic County will see a 2 percent increase
as aid catches up to growth in suburban enrollment over the last decade,
but its two most economically challenged districts, Atlantic City and
Pleasantville, will lose funds.

Advocates for children said the
reforms ignore the pervasive problems of poverty and the vital role
schools play in giving children the opportunity to succeed. They worry
that proposals will pit poor children who need funds against suburban
families looking for property tax relief.

“The idea that you can
somehow leave poverty behind at the school house door is foolish,” said
Cecilia Zalkind, executive director of the Advocates for Children of New
Jersey, or ACNJ, which will be monitoring the proposals.

Millions
of dollars are at stake. Of the more than $8 billion proposed for state
education funding next year, more than $2.5 billion targets programs
such as preschool, bilingual and remedial programs, and extra services
for economically disadvantaged or “at risk” students, according to the
state formula.

Acting Education Commissioner Chris Cerf, in an
Education Funding Report that accompanied the state aid figures,
questioned whether the state investment in its poorest students has paid
off, noting the achievement gap that still remains between test scores
of low-income and minority students and their more-advantaged peers.

Using
the “more money hasn’t solved the problem” argument, Christie has
proposed what he calls “common sense” changes to the state school
funding law that would reduce funding to most of the state’s poorest
school districts and would also affect districts with shrinking
enrollment.

Local legislators said they still have to review the
83-page state report, but are concerned. State Sen Jim Whelan,
D-Atlantic, a teacher in Atlantic City, said he doesn’t understand the
proposal by state Sen. Michael Doherty, R-Warren, Hunterdon, that all
children get the same amount of state aid; Hunterdon County got a 10
percent state aid increase under Christie’s proposed budget plan, the
largest in the state. Warren County got 1 percent more.

“It
doesn’t make sense,” Whelan said. “Different children have different
needs. Poor families need more help. I don’t understand the rationale.”

Rutgers
professor Bruce Baker, who writes the “schoolfinance101” blog, noted in
his analysis of the state report that the test scores of poor students
have improved with extra state aid. But so has the performance of
suburban students, so the achievement gap remains. He said if anything,
taking money from struggling poor schools and giving more to already
more successful suburban schools is only likely to increase the gap.

A
report by Stanford University’s Sean F. Reardon found the “income
achievement gap” increased by 30 to 40 percent for children born between
1975 and 2001. It attributed part of the growth to improved achievement
for families above the median income.

David Sciarra, of the
Education Law Center, which has represented urban students in court,
said while the state proposal appears to help suburban districts, he
believes Legislators will reject it once they understand their long-term
impact on all schools. He believes over five years more schools will
lose aid.

“Even schools that are getting increases are not getting
all they are entitled to under the law,” he said. “It’s just going to
take some time for people to realize it.”

State Sen. Jeff Van
Drew, D-Cape May, Cumberland, Atlantic, said he has already been talking
to his Republican counterpart state Sen. Steve Oroho, who represents
districts in Sussex County, the only other county to lose state aid. Van
Drew said since they are both on the Senate Budget and Appropriations
Committee, the school aid proposals will get a thorough review.

Van
Drew said he is also concerned about the funding law’s “geographic
adjustment” that gives proportionally less aid to districts in the
southern part of the state.

“We are going to look at how to minimize the impact of the proposals,” Van Drew said.